13,407 Shares in Principal Financial Group, Inc. $PFG Purchased by OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC

OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Principal Financial Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:PFG) during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 13,407 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,445,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in PFG. Eurizon Capital SGR S.p.A. bought a new position in Principal Financial Group in the 4th quarter valued at $32,473,000. MUFG Securities EMEA plc lifted its position in shares of Principal Financial Group by 1,219.5% during the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 51,196 shares of the company’s stock worth $4,516,000 after purchasing an additional 47,316 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI purchased a new stake in shares of Principal Financial Group during the fourth quarter valued at $1,277,000. Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 1,639,302 shares of the company’s stock valued at $144,603,000 after purchasing an additional 23,686 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in shares of Principal Financial Group by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 179,303 shares of the company’s stock valued at $15,816,000 after purchasing an additional 19,447 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 75.08% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Wee Yee Cheong sold 7,534 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $103.16, for a total value of $777,207.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 66,443 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,854,259.88. The trade was a 10.18% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 1.13% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on PFG shares. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Principal Financial Group from $94.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 28th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Principal Financial Group from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Atlantic Securities set a $94.00 target price on shares of Principal Financial Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Principal Financial Group from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Citigroup downgraded shares of Principal Financial Group from a “sell” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and three have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $106.67.

Principal Financial Group Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Principal Financial Group stock opened at $112.97 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 0.28 and a quick ratio of 0.28. Principal Financial Group, Inc. has a 1 year low of $77.15 and a 1 year high of $116.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $111.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $101.04. The stock has a market cap of $24.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.05, a PEG ratio of 1.04 and a beta of 0.87.

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ:PFG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, July 27th. The company reported $2.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.33 by $0.17. Principal Financial Group had a net margin of 9.93% and a return on equity of 16.49%. The business had revenue of $3.99 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.11 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.16 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Principal Financial Group, Inc. will post 9.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Principal Financial Group Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 25th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 3rd will be issued a dividend of $0.84 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 3rd. This is a positive change from Principal Financial Group’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.82. This represents a $3.36 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Principal Financial Group’s dividend payout ratio is 46.59%.

About Principal Financial Group

Principal Financial Group (NASDAQ: PFG) is a global financial services company headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, that provides a range of retirement, investment and insurance solutions to individuals, employers and institutional clients. The firm’s business is organized around retirement services, asset management, and insurance products designed to help clients plan, invest for, and protect income over the long term.

Principal’s product and service offerings include retirement plan recordkeeping and administration for employer-sponsored plans, individual and group retirement annuities, life and disability insurance, employee benefits solutions, and wealth management services.